In 2011, in a conversation with a national believer in the Basque Country of Northern Spain, I asked her why she thought people had not responded positively to the evangelistic efforts of the church by giving their lives to Christ. This was a question I had asked many times of many people, and the answer usually came back as a critique of the methods employed or the spiritual darkness under which those people were living. But she answered differently and without hesitation: “They don’t see transformed lives.” She went on to share that while there were many fine people, even Godly people, in the church, the reality was that the tendency of the national church was to set themselves apart from the culture at large, and that this separation did not mark them out as “transformed”, but rather as different or other. People concluded that Christian life or faith was for someone else, not for them. What was missing was an intentional engagement with the culture, something that demonstrated that the Gospel was a message for all people.
Ever since that conversation, the idea of transformation has been at the fore of all of our ministry efforts. No verse captures this idea more clearly than Romans 12:2.
Paul writes in Romans 12:1-2:
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (ESV)
Here we are commanded to be transformed, with an emphasis that it is the natural result of a life offered sacrificially to God. We should not be conformed to the world, but rather transformed.
Upon launching this new project, we wanted to maintain that focus on transformation, so we adopted the “12:2” from that scripture reference as the name of our ministry. Welcome to Twelve Two Ministries!